Twenty-five percent of the smokers who did not have diabetes at the start of the study developed it after five years, compared with 14 percent of people who had never smoked.

"These findings suggest another poor health outcome associated with cigarettes, supporting current surgeon general's warnings against cigarette smoking," researcher Capri G. Foy of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in Winston-Salem, NC, said in a prepared statement.

Significantly Increased Incidence

Reporting in the current issue of Diabetes Care, Foy's team examined the relationship between smoking and diabetes among people taking part in a major national trial called the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS). They compared the five-year incidence of diabetes of smokers and people who had never smoked.

Twenty-five percent of the smokers who didn't have diabetes at the start of the study developed the disease after five years, compared with 14 percent of people who'd never smoked, the study found.

When the researchers adjusted for other diabetes risk factors, they found that, "smokers still exhibited significantly increased incidence of diabetes compared to people who had never smoked."

Diabetes and Heart Disease

Foy noted that smoking has long been associated with heart disease, as is diabetes, and that diabetes and heart disease share many risk factors.

More information: The US National Diabetes Education Program has more about diabetes prevention.